1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a PC card and, more specifically, to such a PC card, which comprises a plastic jacket injection-molded from plastics and an interface adapter packed in the jacket. The plastic jacket can be transparent or opaque in any of a variety of colors.
2. Description of Related Art
Notebook computer is the main stream of information products. It is widely accepted for the advantage of high mobility. However, due to the market tendency toward a smaller size, there are limitations in capacity and expansion, and certain peripheral apparatus such as hard diskdrive, CD-ROM/CD-RW player cannot be directly inserted into the mainframe. Therefore, notebook computer providers provide notebook computers with a PC (PCMCIA) slot for the connection of a standard PC (PCMCIA) card.
A conventional PC card is comprised of a metal jacket formed of a top cover shell and a bottom cover shell respectively made of a metal sheet by stamping, and a circuit board installed in the metal jacket. The circuit board comprises a connector at one side, and an interface adapter at the other side. During assembly, the circuit board is attached with insulative sheet members, and then the interface adapter is fixedly fastened to the inside of the bottom cover shell, and then the top cover shell is covered on the bottom cover shell and riveted thereto. The insulative sheet members are respectively sandwiched in between the circuit board and the cover shells to prevent a short circuit. The cover shells provide an EMI (electromagnetic interface) protection function. However, the fabrication and installation of the cover shells are complicated, resulting in high manufacturing cost of the PC card. Further, because the jacket is formed of metal cover shells, its color design is limited.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a PC card, which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture. It is another object of the present invention to provide a PC card, which has a plastic jacket that can be made transparent or opaque in any of a variety of colors.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a PC card, which has means to protect the internal circuit against electromagnetic interference. To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the PC card comprises a jacket formed of a plastic bottom cover shell and a plastic top cover shell and defining a receiving chamber, the top cover shell and the bottom cover shell each having a plurality of locating grooves symmetrically disposed at two sides, and an interface adapter mounted inside the receiving chamber, the interface adapter including a circuit board and two connectors at two sides of the circuit board, the connectors each having a plurality of locating rods disposed at two sides and respectively engaged into the locating grooves of the jacket. The jacket can be made transparent or opaque in any of a variety of colors.